Correction officer sanctioned for buying inmate’s home

The State Ethics Commission has found that a correction officer violated the conflict of interest law and should pay a $6,000 fine because he purchased an inmate’s residence.

In late 2003 or early 2004, Norfolk County Sheriff’s Department Correction Officer Brian Laumann offered to buy an inmate’s house. The sale called for Laumann to pay off approximately $200,000 in outstanding mortgages and to give the inmate’s wife between $10,000 and $20,000 in cash.

When the closing occurred, Laumann paid off the mortgages but provided the inmate’s spouse only $5,000.

A few months later, the officer sold the home for $289,000.

Writing for the State Ethics Commission, Executive Director Karen L. Nober said: “Mr. Laumann used his position as a county correction officer, a position with tremendous power and authority over the jail’s inmates, to enter into an inherently coercive private commercial relationship with an inmate. By purchasing the inmate’s home, he violated his own agency’s regulations and the conflict of interest law.”